Bank of Ideas, based in an empty office block near London’s financial district, offered several short evening courses, and there is an interest in developing the Tent City University beyond the lecture-and-discussion format. Only towards the end of the occupation did organisers turn their thoughts to ‘asking what we are doing and why’, Stanley says. ‘Consideration is being given to what we are part of and where we would consider ourselves distinct and where we are in the same vein.’ What is clear is that the feeling that the current higher education system is not fulfilling all of the purposes of a university is widespread, among both activists and academics – and, perhaps, too, among the general public for whom the steady erosion of university lifelong learning has made higher learning far less accessible.

Social Science Centre Lincoln’s Social Science Centre is perhaps the clearest and best thought-out model of what a more accessible, collaborative form of higher education outside the state-led sector might look like. Mike Neary, who has been involved in the co-operative centre since it was first mooted back in the summer of 2010, is quick to emphasise that the model he has helped develop is not intended to replace the traditional form of institution, in which he and many of the other members of the centre are employed. ‘It’s certainly not in competition with the University

24 ADULTS LEARNING SPRING 2012